Kraft started making the pasta in shapes, likely to appeal to kids. But they charged the same and had less pasta in the box so didn’t buy those kinds.
https://www.kraftmacandcheese.com/product/00021000053162/unicorn-shapes-5.5-oz
https://www.kraftmacandcheese.com/product/00021000013425/frozen-shapes-5.5-oz
I remember some of the old shapes but as noted, not as good as elbows. We might have bought TMNT and Mario.
I know we bought Sonic the Hedgehog Spaghettio’s.
My daughter didn’t like the stuff in the blue box. She lived on elbow mac and butter, and if I had it parm cheese from the Kraft green can (but never the Safeway brand which was orange and she didn’t like it). She was a white food girl, and the stuff in the green can was okay but anything else wasn’t okay.
When we’d eat with her friends, even their moms knew to take out a small bowl of the Mac before the ‘Cheese’ was added for my D, and then the rest of the kids got more powder cheese.
Really, it is not any harder to boil water and cook elbow mac than it is to make Mac and Cheese from the blue box.
Name changes in general are dumb. I ate plenty of packaged food growing up, but for some reason mac and cheese was not one of them. I used to feed the kids Annie’s occasionally, but they said the school lunch mac and cheese was better. (Who knows what was in that one!) I actually do think there’s something to making it in large quantities that makes it better. I sometimes order it as a side in BBQ joints. I don’t think I’ve actually ever gotten a box of Kraft.
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When we got married our best man gave us a house. Yes, a house made of boxes of macaroni and cheese. It had a working door. Mind you, it wasn’t Kraft dinner. These were generic boxes of macaroni and cheese.
This house fed us during the first year of our marriage when we were poor and I was in grad school.
You can doctor boxed macaroni and cheese in a variety of ways. I prepare the box according to instructions and then add a splash of milk, grated cheddar, some parmesan, canned tuna, frozen peas, ground pepper, and garlic powder, then microwave a few minutes.
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If it weren’t for the name change, we would not be talking about dry pasta and cheese here in the Cafe! 
Freshening up an old brand sometimes pays off.
Kids were fans of homemade boiled pasta with butter and grated cheese and then the Annie’s stuff. Had to be white, I guess? For some reason, Kraft boxes were not as liked.
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This is sort of adorable!!! I would have spent the extra cash for Kraft. 
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We are an Annie’s family, and especially liked the white version to which I’d add more milk, fresh romano and frozen peas or cut up tomato. I’ve been making white and thus cheese sauces since I learned to cook in 5th grade or so. My early family standard was WW pasta with a homemade cheese sauce and many vegetables with young kids. But I devolved to Annie’s as life got busy. And still adore it on occasion but add more flavor than a box provides.
My 3 teens like it especially my youngest one. He would eat it every day and probably has it 3 times a week. He likes the shaped ones which I can’t stand. If I make him the elbows I always set aside a little bowl for myself, I think it’s so good. I do make homemade Mac & cheese and other white sauces, but sometimes Kraft just tastes so good to me.
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My family will eat the original version, but we prefer the spirals and our favorite is the three cheese box. I have tried Annie’s a few times, but have not been inspired to eat it beyond the 2-3 times I tried it. I eat a box every 4-6 weeks when I need something easy and comforting ( and I also like having the leftovers to take to lunch afterwards),
I have never had this or made it for my kids. It’s just not something we grew up on.
When my daughter was younger (late elementary/middle school, I guess), she liked it. But looking back, I think a lot of the appeal was that it was something she could make by herself. I did buy some of the microwavable ones for the kids when they went skiing (they could make it in the lounge microwave).
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I swear there’s something addictive in this stuff. Having read the thread I made the box that was languishing in the back of the pantry and it was … meh … and now all I want is more Kraft m&c …
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Is it so wrong to post this as to how I am feeling now?
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Kids decided that one of the side dishes at their wedding dinner will be mac and cheese. Not Kraft though. The Beecher’s recipe mac and cheese. 
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Sounds like your kids are my kind of folks! Best wishes.
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For a short time, Kraft had a fancy mac and cheese product they were selling. It came with a topping (plus you added extra shredded cheese to it). After the usual process (with a better quality of cheese not that orange stuff) you added the topping (which was like adding Panko) and your extra cheese and baked it. They had a few different variations for these - one you topped with cheddar and one with mozzarella. We really enjoyed these, tasted more like real mac and cheese that you make from scratch.
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Never saw this!
I have never seen it either!